Automatic switch for telephone systems.



G. E. MUELLER.

AUTOMATIC SWITCH FOR TELEPHONE SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 27, 1910.

Patented July 29, 1913v W WMMMM.

G. E. MUELLER.

AUTOMATIC SWITCH FOR TELEPHONE SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 27, 1910.

1,068,521. I Patented July 29, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W 56060657216116 w w 7 2 cm w n fig structure shown in springs; Fig. 6is a GEORGE E. MUELLER, OF LA GRANGE, ILLI AND SUPPLY COMPANY, OFCHICAGO,

NOIS, ASSIGNOR TO KELLOGG SWITCHBOARD ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OFILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC SWITCH FOR TELEPHONE SYSTEMS.

Specification of Letters intent.

Patented July 29, 1913.

Application filed July 27, 1910. Serial No. 574,112.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE E. MUELLER, acitizen of the United States of America, residing in La Grange, countyof Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Imrovements in Automatic Switches for Te ephone Systems, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to automatic switches for telephone systems inwhich a movable wiper is adapted to cooperate with a bank of contactsdivided into groups and in which the said wiper is moved in a primarydirection to select a group of contacts and thereafter in a secondarydirection to select a contact in a group, the object being to providesuch a switch which is simple in construction and most ositive in itsoperation.

There are many eatures and advantages in the switch of my inventionwhich will be better understood upon reference to the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and thescope of my invention will be particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims.

' Referring now to the accompanying drawings in which like referencecharacters indicate likeparts, Figure 1 is a front elevation of theswitch of my invention, but with the bank contacts illustrateddiagrammatically. Fig. 2 is a left side elevation of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is aright side elevation ofthe ig. 1; Fig. 4 is a sectional view along theline 44 of Fig. 1; Fi 5 is a plan view of Fig. 1, but showing on y theprimary and secondary off-normal perspective view of a controllingdetent; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the primary and secondaryretainin detents.

Tteferring now in detail to the switch shown in Figs. 1 to 7, the frame1 which serves as a mounting for the different magnets and cooperatingmechanism is secured to the bank frame consisting of the u perinountingQ, the lower mounting 3, an the posts 4 and 5. Clampcd betweenthe upper and lower parts 2 and 3 are ten individual banks of contactssuch as 6, and being radially disposed aboutthe center of the primaryshaft PS. Each bank 6 contains ten sets of contacts 7, 8 and 9, the saidcontacts being clamped between two plates 10 by means of the screws 11.

In the Figs. 2 and 3 I have shown a single bank 6 with the wipers andprimary shaftmoved off normal and opposite the said bank of contacts. InFig. 1 the ten banks of contacts are diagrammatically represented by tenrows of broken lines, each dash representing three contacts such as 7, 8and 9. The wipers in Fig. 1 are shown in their normal position.

A primary shaft PS is journaled in .the 'upper and lower extensions ofthe frame 1 and is adapted to be rotated to move the wipers 12, 13 and14 to any desired contact bank 6. The wipers 12,18 and 14 are mountedupon the plate 15, being insulated therefrom by the insulating washers16. The plate 15 is pivoted in a slot of the primary shaft PS at 56 andis adapted to be rotated about said pivot to move the wipers 12, 13 and14 to connect to a desired set of contacts 7, 8 and 9 in the selected.bank 6, The primary ratchet 17 is fastened to the primary shaft PSbymeans of the screw as shown in Fig. 1. This primary ratchet 17 serves asa means to be engaged by the pawl 18 of the primary magnet PM to movethe shaft PS. The said pawl 18 is pivoted to the armature 19 of the saidmagnet PM and is normally held out of engagement with the teeth of theratchet 17, due to the said pawl 18 resting against the stop 20. Thespring 21 is fastened to the armature 19 and has its free end engagingthe spring adjusting screw 22. This spring 21 is adapted'to retract thearmature 19 after it has been attracted by the primary magnet PM. Thespring 23 is also fastened to the armature 19 and rests against .thepawl 18 so that when the armatu-re 19 is attracted, the said spring 23forces the pawl 18 into engagement with a tooth of the ratchet wheel 17.The stop 24 is so adjusted that when the armature 19 has been fullyattracted it engages and moves the ratchet 17 one step, the said pawl 18fitting between the bottom of its engaged tooth and the beveled part ofthe stop 24. This is to prevent any overrun of the primary shaft due toits momentum when rotated by the primary magnet.

The sleeve S is loose upon the shaft PS but has a key way 25 whichslides along the key 26, the said key 26 being secured to the shaft PS.Thus, when the shaft PS is rotated the sleeve S is carried around withit,

but the said sleeve is fr to bngthe shaft PS. Secured to the upper endof the shaft PS is the arm'27 carrying the. This insulated stud 28' fromthe said springs PON allowing them" to move to their alternate position;The

spring 29 has one end fastened "to'the boss 30, the other end beingsecured to'the shaft PS. This s ring 29 serves togrestorethe primary.sha ofi normal.

The cam plate 31 is'rigidly securedito't-he sleeve S and has a slottedprojection32 havin said'link 33 passes through a hole in the lower partof frame 1 and has its lower end.

pivotally secured to the plate 15. The sec-' ondary'magnet SM which ismounted on frame 1 to the left of the, sleeve S has an armature 34pivotally mounted on the poleieces 60 thereof. This armature 3 15 isheldin its detracted posit-ion by the spring'351 The pawl 36 is mounted onthe extension 3?,

the said extension 37 being fastenedto' the armature 34 by means of thescrews 38.

The pawl 36 is normally held out or en I the wipers eonnected thereto byiinlr S3 are prevented from over-running, due to their momentum whenmoved' forward by the operation of the secondary magnet SM.

The plate 42 is fastened to the sleeve S and normally rests against theinsulated stud-4:3

which holds the secondary" 'ofi -norm'ai springs SON in their normalposition.

When the sleeve S is moved downward, the plate 42 moves away from thestud 43, allowing said springs SQN to move to their alternate position.1

The primary detent PD. engages the teeth of the ratchet wheel 17, beingheld against the said teeth by the spring 424 'Thesaid primary detent PDis adapted to holdathe. wipers against restoration by-the spring 29'-when the said wipers are moved to a contact bank 6.

The secondary detent is held against the teeth of the sleeve Shyvtheaspringei The said detent SD is adapted-to prevent" restoration ofthe wipers and sleeve S from, their secondary movement by the spring as1 PS when it 'has ihe'en moved,

its normal position while sleeve S .cam 31 are rotating, and not untilsleeve the link 33 pivoted thereto. 'Thel extension 47 mounted on thearmature 48,

to move the detent PD out of engagement with the ratchet wheel 17 andthe pin 49 engaging the detent SD moves it out of engagement With thesleeve S. The control ,detent 50 is pivotally mounted between the frame1 and the bracket 51. The extension of the taid detent 50 is heldagainst cam 31 by the spring 53, and due to arcuate shape of'cam 31,detent 50 is h the contacts in the selected contact bank in frestoring,when the dete'nts PD and SD have been withdrawn from engagement withtheir respective ratchets by the energization of the release magnet RM,as without detent 50, it will he noted that it holding its opera thatthe contact hank 6 is the fifth contact hank the switch and that it isdesired to sonnet-t to .irth set of contacts 7, 8, 9, of the hank 6, theprimary magnet PM is first energized and die-energized five times. Thiscauses the pawl 18 to engage a tooth of the primary ratchet wheel 17five times, thereby rotating the shaft PS and moving the wipers 12, 13,1a to a point opposite the fifth group of contacts which wt have assumedis hank 6. In rotating the shaft PS, it is moved against the tension ofthe-spring =29, but the primary detent PD holds the wipers in theirselected position, due to its engagement with the teeth of the saidratchet wheel 17. Upon the first step of the shaft PS, off-normal, theinsulated stud 28 moves out of engagement with the primary ofii-normalsprings PON, allowing them to move to their alternate position. Thesleeve S, which is slidably keyed tothe shaft PS, is rotated therewith,the plate 42 also being carried along with the sleeve S. Having nowmoved the wipers 12, 13 and 14: to the des red group of contacts, thesecondary magnet SM 18 energized and de-energized 14. L llhe detent 5Gis to prevent the wipers .4 n e 1 13, 14:,- Irom rubbing against thesides tron, which is as iollows: Assuming eeann four times. Thisoperation of the secondary ma net SM imparts a rectilinear movement tothe sleeve S as previously explained, moving it along the shaft PS anddue to the link connection 33, the wipers 12, 13 and 14 are rotatedabout the pivot 56 along the selected group ,of contacts until they arein engagement with the fourth set of contacts 7, 8, 9. Upon the firstofi normal movement of the sleeve S, the plate 42 moves away from theinsulated stud 43 allowing the secondary elf-normal springs SON to moveto their alternate position. Also 11 on the first off-normal movement ofthe s eeve S, the extension 54 moves into engagement tooth of theratchet wheel 17 due to the cam plate 31 moving downward away from theextension 52, which allows detent 50 to swing inward on its shaft,whereby said extension 54 engages a tooth in ratchet 17. The wipers 12,13 and 14 having been moved to engagement with the desired set ofcontacts, the next step to restore the parts to normal. To accomplishthis, the release magnet RM is energized attracting its armature 48which moves the arm 47 against the detent PD, moving it out ofengagement with the ratchet wheel 17. The pin 49 which is fast to thedetent PD then engages and moves the secondary detent SD away from itsonaged tooth of the sleeve S. The detents having been withdrawn fromengagement with their respective ratchets, the wipers 12, 13, 14, arerestored from their secondar movement, due to the spring 46 pressingagainst the lower end of the sleeve S and moving it back along the shaftPS until said sleeves rests against the upper part of the fram The plateat secured to the sleeve S restores the secondary off-normal springs SONto normal. After the pri mary and secondary detents have been moved outof engagement with their respective ratchets, the extension 5d of thedetent 50, engaging a tooth of the ratchet wheel 17 prevents the spring29 from acting upon shaft PS and pressing the wipers 13, 14

against the sides of the contacts causing undue friction while the saidwipers are befrom their secondary move-' ing restored ment. Upon thereturn of the sleeve S to normal, the cam plate 31 again engages theextension 52 thereby moving the detent 50 with its extension 54: out ofengagement with the ratchet wheel 17. The extension 54 having been movedaway from the ratchet wheel 17, the spring 29 rotates the shaft PS,restoring the wipers 12, 13, 14:, from their primary movement. The arm56 by its onagement with the pin 57 serves to stop the shaft PS in itsrestoration to normal. The arm 27 having been moved back to its normalposition, the insulated stud 28 again engages the primary off-normalsprings with a i is to release the switch PON restoring them to normaland the switch and its associated mechanism is now restored and in anormal condition.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An automatic switch comprising a rotatable shaft, a plurality of rowsof contacts, a movable wiper pivoted to said shaft, means for rotatingsaid shaft to move said wiper to a row, and means carried by said shaftand linked to said wipers, adapted to receive rectilinear motion wherebysaid wiper is rotated on its pivot along a row of contacts.

2. In an automatic switch the combination with a plurality of rows ofcontacts, of ashait, a sleeve loose upon said shaft, a movable wiper, alink, connection from said wiper to said sleeve, means for actuatingsaid shaft to move said wiper to a row, and means for moving said sleeveupon said shaft to move said wiper aiong a row.

3. In an automatic switch the combination with a plurality of rows ofcontacts, of a movable wiper adapted to be moved to a row and thereafteralong a row of contacts,

a shaft and a sleeve loose upon said shaft separately connected to thewiper, said shaft and sleeve being independent-1y adapted to be movedfor controlling the respective movements of said wiper, and restoringsprings for shaft and sleeve, carried by said shaft. st. In an automaticswitch the combination with a plurality of rows of contacts, of amovable wiper adapted to cooperate with said contacts, a rotatable shaftfor moving said wipers to a row of contacts, a sleeve loose upon saidshaft and adapted to be moved along the shaft and to be rotated by shaftwhen mid wiper is moved to row, a link connection from said sleeve tosaid wiper for moving said wiper along a row when said sleeve is movedalong said shaft.

5. In an automatic switch the combination with a plurality of rows ofcontacts, of a movable wiper, a rotatable shaft, a sleeve carried bysaid shaft and adapted to be moved along said shaft, means for pivotallysecuring said wiper to said shaft, a link connection from said sleeve tosaid wiper, means for rotating said shaft to move said wiper to a row ofcontacts, and means for moving said sleeve along said shaft whereby saidwiper moves along a row of contacts.

6. in an automatic switch the combination with a plurality of rows ofcontacts, a shaft, a Wiper pivoted to said shaft, means for operatingsaid wiper in a primary direction to a row of contacts, means foroperating said wiper in a secondary direction to a contact in a row.primary off-normal springs, secondary off-normal springs and meanscarried by said shaftfor actuating said primary and secondary off-normalsprings.

7. In an automatic switch the combination with a plurality of rows ofcont-acts, a rotatable shaft, a wiper pivoted to said shaft, a sleeveloose upon said shaft and linked to said wipers, means for rotating saidshaft for operating said wiper in a primary direction to a row, meansfor moving said sleeve upon said shaft to rotate said wiper in asecondary direction to a contact in a row, retaining detents for holdingsaid wiper in its actuated position, means for withdrawing said detentsto allow said wiper to restore from both movements and means actuated bythe restoration of said wiper from its secondary movement forcontrolling the restoration from its primary movement.

8. An automatic switch comprising a plurality of arcuate radiallydisposed rows of contacts, a rotatable shaft, a movable wiper pivoted tosaid shaft, electro-magnetically actuated ratchetmechanism for rotatingsaid shaft to move said wiper to a row, a relatively longitudinallymovable member supported by said shaft and linked to said wipers, andmeans for imparting a longitudinal motion to said member along saidshaft whereby said wiper is rotated along a row of contacts.

9. An automatic switch comprising a plurality of arcuate radiallydisposed rows of contacts, a rotatable shaft, a movable wiper pivoted tosaid shaft, a ratchet member supported by said shaft and longitudinallymovable thereon, a link connection from said member to said wipers,means for rotating said shaft to move said wiper to a row and means foracting upon said ratchet member to rotate said Wiper on its pivot alonga roW of contacts.

10. An automatic switch comprising a plurality of arcuate radiallydisposed rows of contacts, a shaft, a ratchet member longitudinallymovable upon said shaft and linked to said wipers, ratchet mechanism'forrotating said shaft to move said wiper in a primary direction to a row,means for acting upon said ratchet member for moving said wiper in asecondary direction along a row, a pair of retaining detents for saidmechanism and member for holding said wiper in its actuated position,means for withdrawing said detents to allow said wiper to restore fromboth movements, and means for locking said wiper to prevent restorationfrom its primary movement until the restoration thereof from itssecondary movement.

11. An automatic switch comprising arouate radially disposed rows ofcontacts, a rotatable shaft, a movable wiper pivotally supported by saidshaft, means for first rotating said shaft to move said wiper to a row,and means carried by said shaft and linked to said wipers, adapted tothereafter receive rectilinear motion whereby said wiper is rotated onits pivot along the selected row.

12. An automatic switch comprising arouate radially disposed rows ofcontacts, a rotatable shaft, a movable wiper pivotally supported by saidshaft, means for first rotating said shaft to move said wiper to a row,a rectilinez rly movable member carried by said shaft and linked to saidwiper, and means for imparting rectilinear motion to said member wherebysaid wiper is rotated on its pivot along the selected row.

Signed by me at Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, in thepresence of two witnesses. U

GEORGE E. MUELLER. Witnesses:

WM. BERGHAHN, 'MARJORIE E. GRIER.

